Presenter name | Presenter title

Nicole FisherNATIONAL RESEARCH COLLECTIONS AUSTRALIA, CSIRO

Mobilising and making accessible The Australian National Collections, through mass digitisation in an interconnected digital world

DigitalSpecimen Conference, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin : September 2014

Outline :

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2 | Mobilising and making accessible The Australian National Collections, through mass digitisation in an interconnected digital world Nicole Fisher

• Introduction – the CSIRO Collections

• Digitisation at - Australian National Wildlife Collection (ANWC) - Australian National Herbarium (ANH)

- Australian National Fish Collection (ANFC) - Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC)

• Challenges of Mass Digitisation

• Acknowledgements and Thanks

Section 1:

Introduction – the CSIRO Collections

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3 | Mobilising and making accessible The Australian National Collections, through mass digitisation in an interconnected digital world Nicole Fisher

Mobilising and making accessible The Australian National Collections, through mass digitisation in an interconnected digital world Nicole Fisher

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Section 1 : Introduction – the CSIRO Collections

Australian National Wildlife Collection (ANWC)

200, 000

Australian National Herbarium (ANH)

1.5 million

Australian National Fish Collection (ANFC)

145, 000

Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC)

12 million

National Research Collection of Australia (NRCA)

The CSIRO Collections amalgamated together to form the -

Atlas of Living Australia (ALA)

Mobilising and making accessible The Australian National Collections, through mass digitisation in an interconnected digital world Nicole Fisher

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Section 1 : Introduction – the CSIRO Collections

ACCESSIBILTY : from the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA)

• Each CSIRO Collections maintains its own database and images

• Collections deliver data and images online to the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA),

• Various options to view records, data and maps in a range of ways

Digital collections are accessed through the ALA :– Records downloaded: 1 335 000 000– Users per week: 16 958-19 883 (Data for 2013-14)

Section 2:Level 2

Digitisation at – Australian National Wildlife Collection (ANWC)

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Section 2 : Digitisation at - Australian National Wildlife Collection (ANWC)a

Sound Archive Library Project

• Wildlife sound recordings currently stored on tapes

• Digitised for preservation (tapes degrading) and to enable better access.

• The Sound Archive Library is one of the largest in the world.

• 4000 files of bird vocalisations are available for download from the ALA.

• This initiative facilitates online searching facilities as we develop our database

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sp1

potentially multiple species @ a single location/time

sp2 sp3 sp4

Section 2:Level 2

Digitisation at – Australian National Herbarium (ANH)

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Section 2 : Digitisation at - Australian National Herbarium (ANH)a

Global Plants Initiative Project

• Aim to capture high resolution images of herbarium type specimens

• Priority to digitise approximately 2 million plant type specimens worldwide

• Initial International collaboration commenced in 2003.

• Primarily funded via Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

• Project commenced at Australian National Herbarium in late 2012• 6000+ Vascular types in the collection ` 3000+ images taken to date

9 | Mobilising and making accessible The Australian National Collections, through mass digitisation in an interconnected digital world Nicole Fisher

Section 2 : Digitisation at - Australian National Herbarium (ANH)

Image Station & Set-up Specifications

• Leaf Aptus II 12 digital back

• Rodenstock Lens with

Schneider electronic shutter

• Bowens Gemini 500Pro headlight

• Trigrip Silver/White reflector

• Motorised stand and baseboard

• Graphics- AMD Radeon

HD6970m 2048Mb

• Apple iMac 27inch with

Intel Core i7, 16 Gb 1333 MHz DDR3

Mobilising and making accessible The Australian National Collections, through mass digitisation in an interconnected digital world Nicole Fisher

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Section 2 : Digitisation at - Australian National Herbarium (ANH)

Image Quality and File Size

• RAW file (mos) ~162 Mb• Jpeg preview 75kb• Jpeg 6.8Mb• 8-bit tiff 213.4Mb• 16-bit tiff 426.2Mb

• Data is delivered via JSTOR (journal storage) Plant Science

Mobilising and making accessible The Australian National Collections, through mass digitisation in an interconnected digital world Nicole Fisher

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Swainsonia formosa (G.Don) Joy Thomps.

Section 2:Level 2

Digitisation at – Australian National Fish Collection (ANFC)

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Section 2 : Digitisation at - Australian National Fish Collection (ANFC) a

Digital Radiography Imaging Project

• Images show more detail than previous film systems.• System has micro-focus (magnification) capabilities, critical to the naming and

classification of fish species.• Number and arrangements of skeletal elements of fishes are often unique to

individual species, so used in identifications.• Digital Radiography unit is one of a few in Australia.

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Section 2 : Digitisation at - Australian National Fish Collection (ANFC)

Digital Radiography Station & Set-up Specifications

• 1.8m lead-lined cabinet• 20-70 kVp source (Kevex)• 45x45cm digital detector• Micro-focus capability

Mobilising and making accessible The Australian National Collections, through mass digitisation in an interconnected digital world Nicole Fisher

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2 monitors :• 3 MP Medical-grade Monochrome High-resolution• 1 MP Standard res. monitor for file management &

interfaces

Section 2 : Digitisation at - Australian National Fish Collection (ANFC)a

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Applications to other disciplines?

Shows stomach contents = increases number of specimens in the collection

Section 2:Level 2

Digitisation at – Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC)

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Section 2 : Digitisation at - Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC)a

Whole Drawer Digitisation Project

• Satscan-Whole-Drawer protype imaging system - began work in May 2011• ANIC collection ~ 2,000 cabinets = 20,000 drawers• Currently 10% imaged and on-line with associated metadata (in ALA).• Potential to finish all drawer imaging within 3 years

17 | Mobilising and making accessible The Australian National Collections, through mass digitisation in an interconnected digital world Nicole Fisher

Section 2 : Digitisation at - Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC)

Mobilising and making accessible The Australian National Collections, through mass digitisation in an interconnected digital world Nicole Fisher

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Whole-drawer technology and crowd sourcing techniques to rapidly transcribe label data

ALA’s Volunteer

Portal

Satscan Drawer Imaging System

Photoshop

Remove

Labels

Section 2 : Digitisation at - Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC)a

Developed digitisation workflows (whole drawer imaging module with iDigBio)

Combined ‘whole-drawer technology’ and ‘crowd sourcing techniques’

- Imaging of labels for data capture (ALA’s Volunteer Portal)

Established the “International Whole-Drawer Digitisation

Interest Group” (with iDigBio)

https://www.idigbio.org/wiki/index.php/Drawer_Imaging_Group

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Section 3:Level 2

Challenges of Mass DigitisationSection divider slide with 3 text levels

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Section 3 : Challenges of Mass Digitisation a

Many challenges faced when undergoing mass digitisation :

incorporating digitisation into the collection as part of standard practicesexample the benefits in curatorial aspects to curators

Use current technology to put more order into the collections Assist with image and loan requests

development of a Digitisation Strategy with a whole-collection approach

exposing and serving online digitised collections to a target audience

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Acknowledgements …

• National Research Collection of Australia staff : Australian National Wildlife Collection – Margaret Cawsey Australian National Herbarium – Serkan Alyskan Australian National Fish Collection - John Pogonoski

• Altas of Living Australia (ALA)

• Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio)

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NATIONAL RESEARCH COLLECTIONS OF AUSTRALIA, CSIRO

Danke

Thank youAustralian National Insect CollectionNational Research Collection of AustraliaNicole Fisher

e nicole.fisher@csiro.auw www.csiro.au/anic